Laurent Dubreuil races to gold in 500m; Ivanie Blondin wins silver in Mass Start 

TOMASZÓW MAZOWIECKI – Canadian skaters bring home two more medals on the third and final day of racing the ISU World Cup Speed Skating Tomaszów Mazowiecki. 

Laurent Dubreuil (Lévis, Que.) climbed the podium for the second time this weekend, racing to the gold medal in the second 500m event of the competition. Dubreuil outraced 19 other skaters, beating his time from Saturday’s race by 0.03 to set a new season’s best and capture his first World Cup gold of the season. Dubreuil was joined on the podium by China’s Tingyu Gao (+0.06), the winner of the first 500m of the weekend, and Damian Żurek of Poland (+0.14). 

In the women’s Mass Start, Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.) captured her third Mass Start medal of the season, taking the silver with a time of 8:42.93. Irene Schouten of the Netherlands outstretched Blondin at the finish line to win gold (8:42.90), while Mia Kilburg-Manganello of the United States won bronze (8:42.95). Blondin’s teammate Valérie Maltais (La Baie, Que.) finished in sixth place with a time of 8:43.26. 

After winning silver last weekend’s 10,000m, Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary, Alta.) fell just shy of the podium in the men’s 5000m event, finishing in fourth place with a time of 6:26.25 (+8.24). Patrick Roest of the Netherlands took the top spot at 6:18.01, Norway’s Hallgeir Engebråten finished second (+5.83), and David Ghiotto of Italy finished third (+6.65). 

Canadian skaters end the weekend with a total of four medals, one gold and three silvers, in this last World Cup before the New Year. They will return to action in January at Long Track Canada Cup 1 in Quebec City, where spots on the World Cup team will be up for grabs.  

Quotes

“It was a really good race and I’m really happy. My start wasn’t quite as good as yesterday, but I attacked my first corner really well. It was my best lap and my best speed this year. I’m happy when I win a medal, but when I win, I have nothing to say. I’m sure there are a few things I could have done better, but when it comes down to it, it’s not a big deal. We’ll see about the other races, but today I did what I had to do. It’s a great end to my trip and to the weekend. Before the weekend, I was a bit disappointed with the way I was skating. I made a few small corrections and modifications and by the end of the weekend, I was feeling really good, powerful, explosive and technically in control. Today, I was inside with Yuma, which isn’t easy. He had a really good start. I didn’t panic, I stayed calm and confident. I attacked the first corner well. In the second corner, I came out really strong. For my last straight, I had a lot of speed and I stayed focused all the way to the line. I’m really satisfied with the way I finished this trip. It was quite demanding. I had back problems at the start of the trip and technical problems during it. In the end, it’s three medals in seven races and 2nd place overall. If this is a bad start to the season for me, I’ll take it. I feel like I’m back, confident and looking forward to the second half of the season. Today, though, I’m not thinking about the second half of the season. I’m thinking about this win and the second place I took yesterday. I can finally enjoy it tonight. I have a sense of accomplishment.”

Laurent Dubreuil

“I’m happy with today’s outcome. Unfortunately a mistake in the final turn with how I set myself up cost me the gold but that’s ok. I’ll remember for next time. It was pretty feisty out there today. Unfortunately I don’t think there are enough camera angles for how dirty it can be at times. I think this cost Val a medal today too which was also unfortunate. I’m happy to have finished the weekend on a high note with a 6th in the 1000m and a silver. I’m also very excited to go home and get some well deserved rest to recover from the illness still affecting me from China.”

Ivanie Blondin

Results

1000m 

Ivanie Blondin: 6th 
Maddison Pearman: 18th 
Carolina Hiller: 7th (Division B) 
Béatrice Lamarche: 16th (Division B) 
Brooklyn McDougall: 26th (Division B) 

500m 

Laurent Dubreuil: 1st 
Anders Johnson: 4th (Division B) 
Joshua Telizyn: 17th (Division B) 
Vincent De Haître: 23rd (Division B) 

5000m 

Ted-Jan Bloemen: 4th 
Graeme Fish: 15th 
Connor Howe: 25th (Division B) 

Mass Start 

Ivanie Blondin: 2nd 
Valérie Maltais: 6th